Decision comes as Sharif plans visit to White House

New York Times

Published 9:28 pm, Saturday, October 19, 2013

The United States plans to unfreeze more than $1.5 billion in assistance to Pakistan that was blocked because of tension between the two nations over events including the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden inside Pakistan.

The decision to release the money, expected to be discussed when President Barack Obama welcomes the Pakistani prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, to the White House on Wednesday, was confirmed Saturday by congressional officials.

The official notifications from the State Department to Congress, required to release the funds, were sent over the summer, long before the planned visit.

The White House has set a warm tone for the Obama-Sharif session, officially stating that the meeting would highlight the "resilience of the U.S.-Pakistan relationship" and further cooperation on trade and economic development, regional stability and countering extremism.

For all the good will that the Obama administration is seeking to generate through this package, relations between the two countries are still dictated by tensions over the CIA-operated drone program. Sharif's government has repeatedly condemned American drone strikes that have occurred in the tribal belt since his administration began in June, despite assurances from American officials that the strikes were killing few civilians.

Another point of contention has been the future of Afghanistan after the withdrawal of American combat troops in 2014. American officials believe that Pakistan can play a key role in efforts to draw the Afghan Taliban into peace talks, yet remain suspicious of the Pakistani military's links to certain militant factions such as the Haaqani Network, which has carried out many attacks on Western and Afghan troops inside Afghanistan.

The relationship struck a low point in 2011, after a CIA contractor shot and killed two Pakistanis in Lahore, an errant American airstrike killed 24 Pakistani soldiers near the Afghan border, and the Navy SEAL team killed bin Laden in Abbottabad.

American military assistance had been frozen since the bin Laden killing, in May 2011.